Is It Dew or Is It Due?
Zephyr United Methodist Church
Early First United Methodist Church
January 29, 2006
Rev. Eddie Smart
Psalm 111:1-10 (NRSV)
Praise the Lord!
I will give thanks to the Lord with my whole heart,
in the company of the upright, in the congregation.
2Great are the works of the Lord,
studied by all who delight in them.
3Full of honor and majesty is his work,
and his righteousness endures forever.
4He has gained renown by his wonderful deeds;
the Lord is gracious and merciful.
5He provides food for those who fear him;
he is ever mindful of his covenant.
6He has shown his people the power of his works,
in giving them the heritage of the nations.
7The works of his hands are faithful and just;
all his precepts are trustworthy.
8They are established forever and ever,
to be performed with faithfulness and uprightness.
9He sent redemption to his people;
he has commanded his covenant forever.
Holy and awesome is his name.
10The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom;
all those who practice it have a good understanding.
His praise endures forever.
It was a week ago last night, that we heard a sound that thrilled our hearts. We could hear the rain dancing onto our roofs. It had been months since we had heard that sound. Last Sunday, I asked you if you had praised God. For what? The rain of course.
Well, on Monday morning I was standing at our kitchen sink. Out of the corner of my eye, I thought I saw something, but how could it be. I started staring out the window. My focus was just beyond the window. I watched. Then it happened. I did see it. Sure enough there was a drop of water falling from our roof, but it was not raining.
I then looked out across our yard, and I looked up on the roofs of the homes behind us. It was morning dew. It had been a long time since I had seen the dew. I may have had the same feeling the Hebrew people had as they awakened in the mornings to find their daily supply of manna that had fallen with the dew.
The yard looked like it was covered with tiny diamonds. They glistened in the morning sun. Oh, it was such a beautiful sight. I think I may have been as excited over the morning dew as I was the rain.
God gave us the rain, but God also gave us that dew. The dew was exciting because I could see the possibility of the dew being there morning after morning. I could hold on to the hope of seeing the dew tomorrow. And sure enough there was a dew the next day and the next. I was excited. God's small blessing was such a thrill.
"Praise God from whom all blessings flow!" Praise God for the rain. Praise God for the dew. This Psalm we shared this morning is a song of praise. It begins, "Praise the Lord!" "I will give thanks to the Lord with my whole heart."
Praise is not just a lot of shouting or warm feelings. Praise is not just something we do in worship. The psalmist says we give thanks with our whole heart. Praise is not something we do occasionally. It is more than some human work. Praise is our calling, our vocation.
I like what the New Interpreter's Bible says, "Praise is both liturgy and life-style." Praise happens in singing, reading, praying, preaching, confessing, and affirming. Praise happens in worship through liturgy, but praise also happens with the way we live our lives.
Ever see someone and notice they are different. Maybe they have some unexplainable thing you want. There is something about them that sets them apart. It might be that they praise God with their very being.
This psalm speaks of what God has done for the people and how the people are to respond. There is food for God's people. This could be a reference to that manna that came with the dew. God give the people a new land, could it be that promised land.
God provides instructions that are trustworthy and redemption that is promised.
Over and over there is mention and praise for the covenant that God has faithfully kept. God is described as gracious and merciful. God's righteousness endures forever. Holy and awesome is our God.
The psalm sings praises for the covenant that God has established. It is clear that we are to faithful and righteous in following the instructions we are given. Praise God for the precepts, the instructions to us.
God is righteous, merciful, gracious and faithful. When we fear the Lord, when we recognize God's reign in our lives that brings praise and obedience, then we too are righteous, merciful, gracious and faithful.
Bishop Dan Soloman was our guest at a Temple district minister's meeting when I was serving the Moody churches. I was blessed by what he had to say. He gave us a top ten list on "How to Stay Alive, Alert, and Affirmative for Ministry." Rather than share his whole message, I will share just two of his thoughts.
Bishop Soloman said, "Revisit your baptism." I may have told you before that we United Methodist do a silly thing. We baptize infants and then tell them to "remember their baptism." Now that would be silly if by that we meant remember the event. Martin Luther told his congregation, "Remember your baptism." Like Luther, we mean remember the meaning of your baptism. Remember the significance of your baptism.
Bishop Soloman told us that day that he estimates that 85% of what he did in this life came not out of his ordination as a clergyman or consecration as a bishop, but out of his baptism as a Christian. It is in our baptism that we are marked as children of God. It is in our baptism that we remember our absolute dependence upon God. Our baptism is a dramatic outward sign of God's grace that is always sufficient. So when frustrations get high recall that you are rooted in your baptism. When the rains fail to fall remember your baptism. It is in remembering our baptism that we remember what God has done for us and the praise flows.
Bishop Soloman told us that we need to "Revisit our Call." I know what you are thinking. Some of you are thinking that God only calls people to ordained ministry. In our baptism, God calls all Christians to ministry in many different forms. God calls us in our baptism to be all God intends us to be as individuals and the church. So revisit your call. What is God calling you to do? It is in revisiting our call that we can have "a sense of continuing, contagious conscienceness." When we remember God's call on our lives we are able to keep our focus and stay grounded in God's purposes. "The God who called is calling." It is through revisiting our call that we respond to God's graciousness and faithfulness.
Remember your baptism, revisit your call, or as the psalmist put it remember the covenant God made with you and fulfill your part of the covenant.
Will Willimon tells the story of a student who approached a facility member about working one Saturday on a Habitat for Humanity house. The professor immediately when into tongue-lashing rhetoric. "I don't believe in such band-aid fixes as building a single house for a homeless family. If you want to really make a difference you will lobby the legislature for new laws at providing government aid to the homeless. You will march in pickets before the Governor's mansion demonstrating on behalf of these people. You will write letters and make phone calls."
The girl answered, "You don't want to give up a Saturday. Do you?"
Have you ever wanted to hold back a little for yourself? Have you ever thought I give enough time to God? Have you ever said, "I give enough of my money to God." God has been so good to us! Even in that tiny amount of dew that sparkled on my lawn. It is the complete dedication of ourselves to God, our total surrender, that is the essence of praise. Our praise is our utter obedience, gratitude, and faithfulness.